Press Release 2001

Star Alliance announces new CEO, senior management appointments

Star Alliance™, the airline network for Earth, today announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer and two new members of the Alliance Management Team (AMT), which develops the initiatives and drives the day-to-day activities of the global airline partnership.

Jaan Albrecht, a Mexican national, was named CEO of the alliance. Assuming his position on June 1, he succeeds William L. Meaney who has resigned.  For the past two years, Mr. Albrecht has served as Chief Executive Officer of Aeromexpress, an all-cargo airline which was set up to manage the cargo operations of Mexicana Airlines, a Star Alliance member, and AeroMexico.

Kristian Kirchheiner will assume the post of Vice President and head of the strategic development area Seamless Service and Product Development (SSPD). He succeeds Per Stendebakken who has returned to SAS after completing his term as chair of the SSPD organization.  Mr. Kirchheiner, who is Danish, comes from the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Latvian airline airBaltic.

Jill Nealon, presently Group Personnel Director at Star Alliance’s UK member bmi british midland, moves to the position of Vice President, Human Resources. She succeeds Dan Grenier who is retiring. Jill Nealon is British.

• Jaan Albrecht joined Mexicana Airlines in 1973 as a pilot. He spent 20 years of flying with Mexicana as a first officer, captain and fleet chief pilot before reaching the rank of Senior Vice President, Operations. In 1995, Mr. Albrecht assumed the position of Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing before he was named Executive Vice President, Commercial of Mexicana Airlines.
  On assignment from Cintra, the holding company of Mexicana and AeroMexico, Jaan Albrecht spent altogether two and a half years working in executive positions at AeroPeru, which at that time was under the umbrella of Cintra. He also worked as Vice President, Administration and Finance of IFALPA, the international federation of airline pilots associations, from 1986 to 1990.
  In 1999, Mr. Albrecht joined Aeromexpress as its Chief Executive Officer.
  Jaan Albrecht, who is of German heritage, is married with three daughters. He holds a degree in architecture from Mexico’s Technical University and is fluent in Spanish, English and German. As CEO of Star Alliance he will be based at the Star Alliance Business Center in Frankfurt, Germany.

• Kristian Kirchheiner is a M. Econ. from Copenhagen’s School of Economics. He started his career with SAS in 1985 and has held a number of management positions at the Scandinavian carrier, including Route Manager Japan, Hong Kong and Beijing as well as General Sales Manager, Japan and Korea.
  In 1996 Mr. Kirchheiner joined airBaltic as Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Ground Operations. Three years later he was named President and CEO of the Latvian airline, in which SAS has a 34.2-per cent stake.

• Jill Nealon holds a B.A. degree in sociology and politics from Manchester University. In 1980, she took up a position with the sales and service division of IBM (UK).  From 1984 until 1989 she worked for a selection consultancy, before she joined bmi british midland as a personnel and recruitment officer. In 1991-92 Jill Nealon worked as a Customer Service Manager for the airline at Heathrow airport. She was then named Development Manager and two years later Company Personnel Manager. In 1999 she became Group Personnel Director of bmi british midland, with total HR responsibility for 6,500 employees within the U.K. and Europe.

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